Freedom of Information Act 2000 Request

Information regarding the Nominated Officers in the CPS.

Request

1. When were Nominated Officers first established in the CPS?

2. How many Nominated Officers are currently in post in the CPS?

3. Please provide the relevant CPS policy which governs the appointment and operation of Nominated Officers

4. Please share details of any tool which the CPS uses to track and collate data on whistleblowing by Department Staff

5. Please advise of the total number of whistleblowing incidents in the CPS since 1 April 2014 until the present time. Please give a breakdown by each financial year of the numbers of whistleblowing incidents in each year.

6. Please advise if the CPS has reviewed how well the Nominated Officer system is working, and if so, please share any reports, record of findings or equivalent documents.

Response

1. The Internal Audit and Assurance Team at the Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA), employed by the Ministry of Justice, are the Nominated Officers for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The Internal Audit function transferred to the Ministry of Justice in April 2014. Clarification about the role of the Nominated Officer was provided in a policy refresh in May 2015.

2. There are no Nominated Officers in post in the CPS. The Internal Audit and Assurance team employed by the Ministry of Justice undertake the role of the Nominated Officer for the CPS and it is not known how many within that team fulfil the Nominated Officers function.

3. The primary role of a Nominated Officer is to provide support and advice to individuals on issues raised under the departmental Whistleblowing Policy which is aligned to the Civil Service Whistleblowing principles. As the Whistleblowing Policy and Procedure are readily available on the CPS website they are exempt from disclosure under section 21 of the FOI Act. Please see the attached Section 17 Notice which provides details of this exemption. For ease of reference I provide a link to the CPS website below: https://www.cps.gov.uk/publication/cps-whistleblowing-policy

4. There is no internal tool used by the CPS to track and collate data on whistleblowing by employees. The CPS does, however, report on the number of concerns raised to the Cabinet Office on a six monthly basis.

5. There have been fewer than 5 cases reported during the each of the financial years specified and so to avoid individuals being identified, it is not possible to provide further details. To disclose this type of information would be unfair to the individuals concerned; individuals have a clear and strong expectation that their personal data will be held in confidence and not disclosed to the public under the FOI Act. This is especially true of sensitive personal data as it comprises information that individuals will regard as the most private and therefore this information is withheld under Section 40(2) ‘Personal Data’ of the FOI Act.

6. To date there has been no formal review of the effectiveness of the Nominated Officer system.

Information Management Unit 020 3357 0899 IMU@cps.gov.uk